Australia cracks global money-laundering ring

OPERATION ‘ELIGO’:Three major meth labs and the nation’s biggest urban cannabis hothouse were closed, 105 people arrested and over A$26 million in cash seized

AFP, SYDNEY

Australian police yesterday revealed they had cracked a major global money-laundering ring with operatives in more than 20 countries and funds syphoned off to groups reported to include Hezbollah.

The Australian Crime Commission said more than A$580 million (US$512 million) of drugs and assets had been seized, including A$26 million in cash, in a year-long sting codenamed Eligo targeting the offshore laundering of funds generated by outlaw motorcycle gangs, people-smugglers and others.

According to the commission, the operation had disrupted 18 serious and organized crime groups and singled out 128 individuals of interest in more than 20 countries, tapping information from agencies including the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The full details of which countries had been involved were not revealed, but acting commission chief Paul Jevtovic said “the reality is that the Middle East and Southeast Asia have featured prominently.”

“Drug importations into Australia continue to be the main profit source by organized crime here in this country, but there is a range of other things, serious organized investment frauds, identity theft,” Jevtovic said.

Eligo saw 105 people arrested on 190 separate charges and resulted in the closure of three major clandestine methamphetamine labs and Australia’s largest-ever urban hydroponic cannabis hothouse in Sydney in November last year.

It was described as “one of the most successful money-laundering investigations in Australian law enforcement history” by the commission.

“The task force focused on high-threat money-laundering activities and, as a result, revealed a range of different crime types which has led to these extraordinary outcomes,” Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said.

“Seizing more than A$550 million worth of drugs and cash is a significant blow to the criminal economy,” he added.

Legitimate international cash wiring services were a major focus of the operation, with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the government’s anti-laundering agency, saying they had been identified as at “high risk of being exploited by serious and organized crime groups.”

A Fairfax media expose on the operation found criminals targeted foreign nationals and students in Australia awaiting remittances from overseas, hijacking the transaction by depositing dirty money to the payee and then taking the cash wired from offshore.

Fairfax said at least one of the exchange houses used in the Middle East and Asia delivered a cut from every dollar it laundered to Lebanon’s powerful Shiite movement and Syria ally Hezbollah, which is banned as a terrorist organization in Australia.